Lexington, Ky.-Memphis track and field squads return to action for their first meet of the new year, on Friday, at the Kentucky Invitational. The event hosted by the University of Kentucky will mark the first of two trips the Tigers will take to the Blue Grass state.

"Our expectation is to knock the rust off," head track and field coach Kevin Robinson said. "We're coming off the holiday break and we have to get back into that competitive mode. We need to go in and assert ourselves competitively early, so we can continue to improve throughout the season."

The two-day meet begins Friday at 4 p.m. (CT) with the women's long jump followed by the women's weight throw, men's and women's high jump, women's pole vault, men's long jump and men's weight throw. Day one will end with the running of the women's and men's distance Medley.

Saturday's action will kickoff at 10 a.m. with a full slate of track and field events scheduled beginning with the women's 3,000m, women's triple jump and women's shot put. Results from the Kentucky Invitational will be posted on GoTigersGo.com as they are made available.

Last Time OutThe Tigers kicked off the 2012-2013 indoor track and field season at the BSC Icebreaker in Birmingham, Ala., on the first weekend in December. In Memphis' first indoor meet of the season, the Tigers took four titles in the women's 800m, women's 400m, women's 4 x400m relay and men's triple jump.

"We got off to a pretty good start," said Robinson. "It's always going to be difficult to compete that early, but we use that as a training tool to give the athletes something to look forward to through a hard fall of training."

Kala Funderburk took first in the women's 400m checking in with a time of 55.63. Funderburk, Williamson along with teammates Monica Mason and Jeannuel Williams placed first in the women's 4 x 400m relay crossing the line at 3:46.78. For the men, freshman Manuel Ziegler took first in the triple with a leap of 15.00m (49'2.5").

Up Next for the Tigers The Tigers travel to Charleston, Ill. for the John Craft Invitational. The meet hosted by Eastern Illinois University is scheduled for Saturday, January 19, at the Lantz Fieldhouse.